School phobia. Sometimes a child or teenager has a good reason

School phobia is a syndrome of childhood characterized by marked anxiety about attending school or by absence from school. In most cases, the underlying cause is separation anxiety. Somatic complaints may accompany the refusal to attend school. The physician should first help parents to return the child to school as soon as possible and then try to determine and alleviate the cause of the phobia. The prognosis is relatively good in preadolescent children and relatively poor in older children.